Fifty-Seven Peace Corps Volunteers Sworn-In for Two Years of Service

U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Dr. Inmi Patterson and Dr. Leonard Akwilapo pose for a group picture with Peace Corps Volunteers moments after the swearing-in ceremony in Dar es Salaam.

Dar es Salaam, TANZANIA. On September 21, 2017, at the United States Peace Corps Office in Dar es Salaam, United States Chargé d’Affaires, Dr. Inmi Patterson swore-in 57 Peace Corps Volunteers to their two years of service in Tanzania. The American volunteers, who will work in the education field, will be stationed in Iringa, Mufindi, Same, Kyela, Masasi, Maswa, Singida Rural, Lushoto, Chamwino, Hai, Rombo, Wete, Rungwe, Njombe, Iringa Rural, Sumbawanga, Kusini Unguja, Kaskazini Unguja, Hanang, Mbeya, Nachingwea, Hanang, Iramba, Kiomboi, Mbeya Rural, Shinyanga, and Singida Urban districts.

Guest of honor Dr. Leonard D. Akwilapo, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Vocational Training attended the swearing-in ceremony, along with current and former Peace Corps Volunteers and officials from partner volunteer agencies. Chargé d’Affaires Patterson addressed the volunteers, saying: “While there is a possibility that you may be the first American with whom your Tanzanian colleagues or neighbors have met, it is a certainty that you will remain forever in the minds of those Tanzanians as a representative of the American people.”

Founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps is a U.S. Government agency that supports over 7,000 volunteers in more than 70 countries. For more than 50 years, Peace Corps has maintained apolitical and non-sectarian ideals of technical and cultural exchange. Peace Corps promotes world peace and friendship by fulfilling three fundamental goals:

Providing American Volunteers who contribute to the social and economic development of interested countries;

Promoting a better understanding of Americans among the people who Volunteers serve;

Strengthening Americans’ understanding of the world and its peoples.

Volunteers take the oath that was administered by Dr. Patterson.

Over 2,500 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in Tanzania since 1961. The Peace Corps provides trained American volunteers who work with communities in the fields of secondary education (math, science, and English), health promotion, and environmental education.